Convinced ICT is a strong part of our national economy and a great destination for young people?
Brussels agrees – hence its European e-Skills Week campaign, which is trying to accentuate the positive in terms of the sector.
Kicking off in Brussels yesterday, the closing event will take place on 30 March in Copenhagen. So what’s it all about? Persuading young people that there’s gold in them thar servers, as it were.
By 2015, the European Commission claims that a huge 90% of jobs across all sectors will have a requirement for some form of e-skills. It also believes that Europe is suffering from a growing professional ICT skills shortage and will experience a gap of as many as 700,000 professionals within three years (source – IDC).
This is despite predictions that the number of ICT practitioners across Europe will rise from 4.7 million today to 5.26 million in three years time. The Commission also forecast that the number of jobs for highly-qualified people would increase by 16 million between now and 2020, while those held by low-skilled workers would drop by around 12 million.
It attested: “This huge amount of up-skilling can only be achieved with e-skills. It is a precondition to become employable, learn and find a job online.”
Other interesting stats include:
- The ICT sector is responsible for 5% of European GDP, with an annual market value of E660 billion, but it contributes far more to productivity-related growth via ICT investments in other sectors
- In spite of the economic crisis, the ICT workforce has continued to grow across Europe at a rate of 3%
- As the EU moves to a knowledge-based society, jobs requiring a high-level of education will rise from 25% to 31% of the total
- Europe faces growing unemployment with 23 million people already out of work and youth unemployment currently standing at 21%.
